Beauty and Sorrow: A True Pearl S. Buck

Author: Yi Qing
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2005-12-01
Features: She is regarded as the "Daughter of the Earth." She could never "have both feet on the ground" in her life: the land she loved was in a foreign land, and she wanted to make the foreign land her homeland; the land where she was born but felt alienated and unfamiliar was her homeland, yet it was not the "desired homeland," so she wanted to make the homeland a foreign land. Her roots were on the other side of the Pacific, but her heart was here, so she was seen as a "rootless drifting weed." When she was four months old, she was taken away by her missionary parents from that land and became a "wanderer." She wanted to find a shore to land on, but she didn’t know which shore to choose. She took flight, wanting to descend to the ground, but suddenly realized she was a "bipedless bird." She was Pearl S. Buck! This book allows you to understand a real Pearl S. Buck. It is suitable for scholars or enthusiasts of U.S.-China relations, scholars or enthusiasts of the history of Sino-Western cultural exchange, scholars or enthusiasts of the Nobel Prize in Literature, scholars or enthusiasts of The Good Earth, and students from primary to high school. She was not a stunningly beautiful woman, but she had a well-defined face, a high, pointed, and round nose, deep blue eyes, and a faint sorrow that always lingered in her eyes. "A mind enriched with books naturally radiates beauty," she was beautiful because of her inner self, beautiful because of her writing, and beautiful because of her spiritual essence. She was the first woman in American history to win the Nobel Prize in Literature, leaving behind many moving literary classics. The University of Pennsylvania reviewed her as a "well-known, highly notable, and controversial intermediary between Chinese and American cultures." President Nixon regarded her as a "bridge connecting Eastern and Western civilizations," a "great artist," and a "sensitive and compassionate person." She cherished China so much, yet for a long time, she received "malicious treatment" in China. In the eyes of some Chinese people, she was once seen as a "reactionary American writer" and the "pioneer of cultural aggression by American imperialism." She was an American citizen, yet she became a "devoted communist sympathizer" in the eyes of some Americans. FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover ordered a secret investigation into her, and she was subjected to constant insults, humiliation, and threats. She suffered repeated heartbreaks in love and even fell into the "love trap" meticulously designed by Harry Harkavy in her later years. She turned to God for help when faced with her forever-adolescent only daughter, crying out, "Oh, God! What should I do? What should I do?" She is regarded as the "Daughter of the Earth," but this "Earth" is not under her feet but in her dreams and in her heart. She could never "have both feet on the ground": the land she loved was in a foreign land, and she wanted to make the foreign land her homeland; the land where she was born but felt alienated and unfamiliar was her homeland, yet it was not the "desired homeland," so she wanted to make the homeland a foreign land. Her roots were on the other side of the Pacific, but her heart was here, so she was seen as a "rootless drifting weed." When she was four months old, she was taken away by her missionary parents from that land and became a "wanderer." She wanted to find a shore to land on, but she didn’t know which shore to choose. She took flight, wanting to descend to the ground, but suddenly realized she was a "bipedless bird." On one side, she had no place to land; on the other side, she had a place but couldn’t land. So she could only fly forever! This book is suitable for scholars or enthusiasts of U.S.-China relations, scholars or enthusiasts of the history of Sino-Western cultural exchange, scholars or enthusiasts of the Nobel Prize in Literature, scholars or enthusiasts of The Good Earth, and students from primary to high school.